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DISCOVERING 

NEW  FACTS 
ABOUT  PAPER 


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DISCOVERING 
NEW   FACTS   ABOUT   PAPER 


THIS  IS  THE  FIRST  OF  A  SERIES  OF  BOOKS  TO 
BE  ISSUED  BY  THE  AMERICAN  WRITINC  PAPER 
COMPANY  ON  THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDIES  AND 
INVESTIGATIONS  OFTHE  DEPARTMENT  OFTECH- 
NICAL  CONTROL.  EVEN  WHILE  THIS  VOLUME 
WAS  IN  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  PRESS  OLD 
PROBLEMS  THAT  HAD  LONG  BAFFLED  THE 
PAPER-MAKER  WERE  SOLVED,  NEW  PROBLEMS 
WERE  PRESENTED  FOR  SOLUTION,  NEW  DIS- 
COVERIES OF  VAST  IMPORTANCE  WERE  MADE, 
AND  NEW  PROCESSES  WERE  INTRODUCED  INTO 
THE  MILLS.  SO  RAPID  AND  CONTINUOUS  IS 
THE  PROGRESS  MADE  BY  THE  RESEARCH  AND 
DEVELOPMENT  DIVISION  THAT  ONLY  BY  THE 
PUBLICATION  OF  BOOKS  SUCH  AS  THIS,  FROM 
TIME  TO  TIME,  CAN  THE  DEVELOPMENTS  BE 
ANNOUNCED. 


THE  AMERICAN  WRITING  PAPER  COMPANY 
takes  pleasure  in  presenting  you  with  this 
copy  of  "Discovering  New  Facts  About  Paper," 
—  a  volume  designed  to  acquaint  paper  users 
with  the  value  of  scientific  investigational  work 
in  the  paper  industry. 

AMERICAN  WRITING  PAPER  COMPANY 
Makers   of  "  Eagle   A"  Papers 
HOLYOKE,  MASSACHUSETTS 


DISCOVERING 
NEW  FACTS  ABOUT  PAPER 


The  Story  of  the 
Qreatest  'Paper  Research  Laboratory 


By  Waldemar  Kaempffert      Illustrated  by  Vernon  Howe  Bailey 


Published    by 
AMERICAN   WRITING   PAPER   COMPANY 

The  World's  Largest  Makers  of  Fine  'Papers 
1920 


BOSTON  (J  LIBRARY 


COPYRIGHT,    I92O 

AMERICAN   WRITING    PAPER   COMPANY 

HOLYOK.E,    MASS. 


THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 
CAMBRIDGE,    MASS. 


DISCOVERING 
NEW   FACTS   ABOUT    PAPER 


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DISCOVERING 
NEW  FACTS  ABOUT  PAPER 

The  Story  of  the 
Greatest  Paper  Research  Laboratory 


ROSE  is  judged  by  the  eye.  A 
better  instrument  for  gauging 
the  comparative  beauty  of  two 
roses  could  hardly  be  desired. 
Roses  are  grown  and  bought  to 
please  the  eye.  To  test  a  rose,  look  at  it.  Your 
only  other  consideration  is  that  of  price.  Its  price 
is  the  measure  of  a  rose's  rarity  or  desirability. 

A  sheet  of  paper  is  a  highly  complex  manufac- 
tured product.  The  man  who  produced  it  knows 
something  about  the  substances  from  which  it 
was  made  and  the  processes  that  were  employed 
to  give  it  the  proper  texture,  strength,  and  color; 
and  his  knowledge,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  is 
by  no  means  as  complete  as  it  should  be.  What 
of  the  man  who  buys  a  sheet  of  paper?  By  what 
standards  does  he  estimate  its  fitness  for  the  pur- 
pose that  he  has  in  mind?  If  he  is  a  paper  mer- 
chant, he  may  possibly  make  a  few  simple  tests 
for  strength.  He  will  probably  hold  a  sample 
sheet  against  the  light  to  discover  what  he  can 
about  its  formation.  He  will  feel  it,  tear  it,  even 
touch  it  to  his  tongue.  But  the  factors  that  will 
probably  govern  his  estimate  will  be  price  and 
the  reputation  of  the  paper  manufacturer.  The 
grocer  who  needs  paper  for  wrapping,  the  busi- 
ness man  who  uses  paper  for  his  correspondence 
and  for  his  records,  or  the  lawyer  who  sets  down 
on  legal  cap  the  terms  of  a  contract  or  a  deed  to 
last  a  hundred  years — what  are  his  standards? 


Appearance  and  price  —  no  others.  He  buys  a 
piece  of  paper  very  much  as  he  buys  a  rose. 
"That  looks  good,"  he  says  to  himself,  "and  it 
seems  reasonable  in  price."  If  he  is  the  kind  of 
man  who  turns  up  a  box  of  strawberries  in  order 
to  make  sure  that  he  has  not  been  deceived  by 
a  seductively  perfect  top  layer,  he  may  crumple 
up  the  sheet  of  paper  or  tear  it.  But  in  the  end 
he  will  decide  in  accordance  with  his  eye  and 
his  pocketbook  —  rose  standards. 

Now  a  sheet  of  paper  is  in  its  way  just  as  im- 
portant to  a  banker  or  a  lawyer  or  a  business 
man  as  a  rod  of  steel  to  an  automobile  maker. 
Suppose  the  automobile  maker  were  to  buy  steel 
as  he  buys  roses.  There  would  be  no  brake-rods 
that  could  be  worked  several  hundred  thousand 
times  without  snapping,  no  axles  strong  enough 
to  support  an  eighty-ton  locomotive,  no  gears 
glass-hard  on  the  surface  and  soft  at  the  core, 
no  spring  suspensions  that  could  be  flexed  a 
million  times  without  breaking,  no  valve  stems 
that  could  be  stretched  out  in  special  machines 
without  rupturing  —  in  a  word,  no  automobile 
capable  of  covering  a  distance  equivalent  to 
the  circumference  of  the  earth  before  extensive 
repairs  are  necessary. 

The  automobile  maker  sets  up  standards.  He 
knows  exactly  what  must  be  the  characteristics 
of  the  metal  out  of  which  engines,  shafts,  frames, 
bolts,  and  nuts  must  be  made.  What  is  more,  he 


Discovering  New  Facts  about  *Paper 


/  .:  ib»>!t  i 


Taper  makers  speak  of  "  engine  sizing" 
and  "tub"  or  "surface  sizing."  'By  en- 
gine-sized paper,  they  mean  a  paper 
which  has  been  sized  in  the  beater.  Tub 
or  surface-sized  paper  is  made  on  the 
Fourdrinier  machine,  the  web  moving 
through  a  bath  of  glue  or  starch  or  a 
combination  of  both.  Taper  makers  were 
never  agreed  on  the  subject  of  sizing, 
particularly  rosin  sizing.  Alum  and  rosin 
are  also  two  important  sizing  agents. 
£ither  used  alone  is  not  very  effective, 
but  together  they  form  a  compound  which 
waterproofs  the  fibers  and  therefore  pre- 
vents   ink  from,    being    absorbed    and 


SOLVING  THE  SIZE  PROBLEM 
spreading  on  the  writing  paper.  This 
subject  of  sizing  has  engaged  the  chem- 
ists of  the  American  Writing  Taper 
Company  for  over  ten  years.  It  used  to  be 
the  practice  in  most  writing-paper  mills 
to  use  liberal  doses  of  alum  whenever 
the  pulp  seemed  not  to  be  running 
correctly.  Research  showed  that  the 
practice  was  to  be  condemned  and  that 
far  too  much  alum  is  used  in  indiscrimi- 
nate ways.  During  the  past  three 
years  the  American  Writing  Taper 
Company  has  saved  S3 00,000  worth 
of  alum. 

Smulsions  of  rosin  and  soap  are  widely 


used  in  sizing  paper.  The  best  sizing 
effect  is  obtained  with  much  free  rosin; 
but  emulsions  are  not  easily  formed  when 
the  free  rosin  is  high.  Research  con- 
ducted in  the  American  Writing  Taper 
Company  s  laboratory  resulted  in  the  de- 
velopment of  a  process  of  making  a  clear 
rosin  size  —  a  solution  which  will  not 
"settle  out"  and  which  has  greater  siz- 
ing power  than  the  ordinary  milky  emul- 
sions. All  the  guessing  that  attended  the 
making  of  rosin  size  has  disappeared, 
and  an  error  is  corrected  by  mere  in- 
spection. In  rosin  alone  this  represents 
a  saving  of  over  $150,000  a  year. 


The  'Paper  Trade  Lacks  Standards 


tests  the  steel  that  he  buys, in  order  to  make  sure 
that  it  meets  his  standards.  If  the  automobile 
has  ceased  to  be  the  butt  of  comic  weeklies,  it 
is  solely  because  price  and  eye  as  measuring  de- 
vices have  given  place  to  machines  that  pull, 
twist,  and  bend  samples  of  metal. 

There  are  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty 
major  classes  of  paper,  and  in  each  of  these 
classes  dozens  of  varieties  are  to  be  found.  Writ- 
ing papers,  printing  papers,  cigarette  papers, 
blotting  papers,  wrapping  papers,  corrugated 
papers,  crepe  papers,  waterproof  papers,  cart- 
ridge papers,  wall  papers  —  the  list  is  endless. 
A  few  grades  of  manuscript  and  printing  paper 
were  made  by  the  mills  of  Spain,  Italy,  Germany, 
France,  and  England  in  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries.  If  we  needed  any  evidence  of 
the  advance  of  civilization,  surely  we  would  find 
it  in  the  bewildering  varieties  of  papers  that  are 
now  made.    Paper  has  become  a  necessity.    The 


lithographer  demands  a  paper  that  will  not 
stretch,  the  cigarette  maker  a  paper  that  is 
free  from  pinholes  and  that  has  certain  burning 
properties,  the  banker  a  stock  certificate  paper 
of  great  durability.  Every  industry  uses  paper  of 
some  kind.  It  does  not  specify  scientifically  what 
it  wants.  It  says  in  effect:  "Give  me  a  paper  on 
which  I  can  have  labels  printed,  or  in  which  I 
can  wrap  cheese,  or  in  which  I  can  pack  meat, 
or  which  I  can  use  for  a  cap  lining,  or  which  will 
filter  liquids  in  the  laboratory."  And  the  paper 
maker  proceeds  to  meet  these  demands.  Under 
the  stress  of  competition  in  price  one  paper 
mill  seeks  to  obtain  an  advantage  by  the  use 
of  cheaper  materials  or  by  modifications  in  the 
manufacturing  process  —  devices  that  are  not 
betrayed  in  the  finished  sheet.  No  wonder  the 
number  of  papers  made  to  meet  a  particular  re- 
quirement is  endless. 

Clearly  the  paper  trade  lacks  standards.  The 


HOW  MUCH    DIRT    IS    IN    THAT 
LOT  OF    PULP? 

The  American  Writing  Paper  Company  buys 
not  merely  rags  or  wood  pulp  to  be  converted 
into  paper,  but  cellulose.  In  other  words,  it 
inspects  the  raw  material.  Wood  pulp  fre- 
quently contains  dirt.  T>irty  wood  pulp  means 
a  dirty  sheet  of  paper.  This  operator  is  deter- 
mining the  dirt  in  a  sample  of  pulp.  If  some 
particular  lot  of  pulp  is  too  dirty,  he  will  re- 
ject it  entirely.  The  test  is  made  by  simply 
placing  the  sample  sheet  over  an  electric  light. 
The  dirt  specks  are  clearly  silhouetted.  "By 
testing  wood  pulp  for  dirt,  the  laboratory  of 
the  American  Writing  Taper  Company  has 
saved  as  much  as  S300  per  car. 


'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


paper  maker  tells  the  ultimate  consumer  very 
little  about  the  suitability  of  a  given  paper  for 
a  given  purpose.  Price  dominates  the  mind  of 
the  purchaser  —  not  quality  and  performance. 
Pig  iron,  lumber,  explosives,  engines,  electric 
lamps,  kodaks,  are  sold  according  to  their  abil- 
ity to  fulfill  definite  purposes;  they  meet  certain 
standards.   But  not  paper. 

If  a  manufacturer  wishes  to  standardize  his 
product,  he  must  first  know  exactly  how  it  is 
made.  This  is  not  intended  to  be  a  paradox. 
Until  comparatively  recently,  the  cannerdid  not 
know  exactly  what  happened  when  he  canned 
food  —  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  a  few  parts  per 
million  of  copper  rubbed  from  cooking  utensils 
turn  canned  corn  gray  or  canned  shrimp  black, 
and  that  string  beans  not  properly  blanched  are 
tough  and  slimy  when  canned.  The  glass  maker 


likewise  proved  that  he  knew  little  about  his 
own  manufacturing  processes  when  the  chemist 
stepped  in  and  showed  him  how  to  make  glass, 
not  with  twenty  different  compounds,  but  with 
four.  To  set  a  standard  in  an  industry,  to  know 
exactly  what  happens  when  materials  are  sub- 
jected to  manufacturing  processes,  to  test  a 
finished  product  for  quality  —  all  this  means 
research. 

Now  the  paper  industry  has  never  set  up 
standards  for  its  finished  product  —  standards 
which  will  enable  the  paper  merchant  or  the 
printer  or  the  ultimate  consumer  to  determine 
the  fitness  of  a  given  piece  of  paper  for  a  partic- 
ular purpose  —  because  it  has  never  conducted 
research  systematically  and  thoroughly.  Modern 
pulp-making  methods,  it  is  true,  have  been  de- 
veloped  largely  by  chemical  research,  but  re- 


SUBSTITUTING  A  CAMERA   FOR 
THE    EYE 

A  photograph  of  what  appears  on  the  mi- 
croscope slide  teaches  much.  The  wood  out 
of  which  a  pulp  was  made  can  be  identified; 
the  degree  to  which  pulp  has  been  bleached 
can  be  determined;  the  pulp  produced  under 
different  mechanical  and  cooking  conditions 
can  be  studied.  The  average  fiber  lengths 
and  the  percentage  of  various  fibers  mixed 
in  a  given  sample  of  pulp  can  be  ascer- 
tained; the  nature  and  the  amount  of  treat- 
ment of  the  stock  received  in  the  beater  are 
revealed.  There  is  hardly  a  process  in  paper 
making  that  cannot  be  scientifically  studied 
with  the  help  of  microphotographs. 


■ 


IO 


'Developing  New  'Processes  and  'Products 


Jl 


EXPERIMENTING    WITH    NEW    PROCESSES  AND    NEW   PAPER 


The  mill  is  not  ordinarily  the  place  to 
carry  out  a  new  idea  which  involves 
radical  changes  in  manufacturing  meth- 
ods. Indeed,  the  procedure  may  prove 
to  be  ruinously  expensive.  The  mortality 
of  new  ideas  is  notoriously  high.  'Before 
the  American  Writing  Taper  Company 
adopts  a  new  idea,  the  'Department  of 
Technical  Control  is  consulted.  In  that 
'Department  a  promising  material  or 
method  is  passed  through  four  stages 
before  it  is  approved  or  disapproved.  In 
the  first  stage  small  laboratory  appa- 


ratus is  used;  in  the  last  a  full-sized 
equipment.  So,  pulp  is  experimentally 
made  in  beaters  that  range  in  capacity 
from  one-half  to  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds;  and  paper  is  made  by  hand  and 
by  a  ?nachine  which  will  produce  a  sheet 
from  twenty  to  sixty  inches  wide.  Not 
until  the  process  has  successfully  passed 
the  fourth  stage  with  beaters  of  com- 
mercial size  and  with  the  full  width  of 
the  paper  machine,  is  the  ^Department 
of  Technical  Control  convinced. 

In  this  picture  the  second  stage  in  the 


making  of  a  new  or  improved  paper  is 
shown.  Small  hand  sheets  are  produced 
with  the  aid  of  the  miniature  paper  mill 
with  its  digesters,  washers,  beaters,  and 
vats,  each  doing  its  allotted  part  of  the 
work  under  the  most  careful  scientific 
observation.  The  next  step  to  the  larger 
machines  can  now  be  taken  with  much 
of  the  uncertainty  removed.  Thus, 
guessing  gives  place  to  exact  knowl- 
edge of  what  a  new  process  or  machine 
will  do  when  introduced  in  the  mill. 


I  I 


'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


search  spasmodically  conducted.  Laboratories 
are  to  be  found  in  a  few  paper  mills,  and  in  these 
some  notable  improvements  in  testing  methods 
and  in  manufacturing  processes  have  been  de- 
veloped. But  the  conversion  of  cellulose  into 
paper  has  never  been  systematically  studied  as 
a  whole,  year  in  and  year  out,  as  electric  illu- 
mination, photography,  steel,  artificial  leather, 
cottonseed  oil,  and  coal-tar  dyes  have  been 
studied. 

It  is  to  this  task  that  the  American  Writing 
Paper  Company  has  addressed  itself.  At  Hol- 
yoke,  Massachusetts,  the  world's  paper  city,  it 
has  established  a  department  of  technical  con- 
trol, a  laboratory  which  explores  the  unknown 
in  the  chemistry  of  paper.  It  is  a  laboratory  which 
is  second  to  none  in  its  high  ideals,  its  personnel, 
and  its  equipment. 

If  paper  which  is  to  be  used  for  printing, 
writing,  wrapping,  filtering,  and  thousands  of 


MEASURING  OPACITY 
AND  COLOR 

The  transparency  of  a  paper  is  in- 
fluenced by  the  kind  of  pulp  used,  the 
manner  in  which  the  pulp  has  been 
treated  in  the  beater,  the  amount  and 
kind  of  mineral  added  as  a  filler,  and 
the  bulk  of  the  finished  sheet .  'But  how 
can  you  tell  accurately  if  one  sheet  of 
paper  of  a  certain  weight  is  more  or 
less  transparent  than  another  sheet  of 
the  same  weight  ?  The  answer  is  sup- 
plied by  an  instrument  which  meas- 
ures the  amount  of  light  that  passes 
through  a  sample  of  paper. 


other  purposes  is  to  be  made  of  unvarying  qual- 
ity, the  first  requisite  is  unvarying  raw  material. 
"It  can't  be  done,"  says  the  practical  paper 
maker.  Wood  pulp,  rags,  cotton,  jute,  esparto 
grass  —  these  are  the  raw  materials  of  the  paper 
industry.  No  two  trees  are  alike;  therefore  no 
two  purchases  of  wood  pulp  can  be  alike.  No 
two  carloads  of  rags  can  possibly  be  alike.  It 
seems  as  if  any  attempt  to  standardize  the  mak- 
ing of  paper  is  thwarted  at  the  very  outset.  But 
the  scientific  purchase  of  raw  material  is  one  of 
the  simplest  tasks  that  the  laboratory  at  Holyoke 
performs.  The  paper  mill  wants  cellulose  —  the 
fiber  of  which  all  vegetation  is  built  up.  So,  the 
laboratory  helps  the  mill  to  buy  not  wood  pulp, 


I  2 


t 


Every  Step  Is  Controlled 


not  rags,  but  cellulose.  Similarly,  the  laboratory 
sets  up  standards  not  for  the  purchase  of  coal, 
but  heat.  The  laboratory  is  able  to  state  exactly 
what  kind  of  paper  can  be  made  from  a  ship- 
ment of  wood  pulp  or  rags.  It  studies  the  fibers. 
It  matters  much  if  they  are  long  or  short;  for 
length  of  fiber  determines  some  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  finished  sheet.  The  natural  stiff- 
ness of  the  fibers,  too,  must  be  considered.  The 
practical  paper  maker  is  guided  solely  by  sight 
and  touch  in  these  matters;  the  chemists  in  the 
laboratory  at  Holyoke,  by  the  microscopic  and 
chemical  findings.  Dirty  wood  pulp  may  be  re- 
jected entirely;  it  means  a  dirty  sheet  of  paper. 
By  a  scientific  examination  of  the  material  that 


comes  to  the  American  Writing  Paper  Com- 
pany's mills,  the  laboratory  is  able  to  classify  its 
cellulose  content  and  to  determine  the  paper- 
makingvalue  of  that  cellulose  content.  As  much 
as  #300  a  car  has  been  saved  by  buying  not 
merely  wood  pulp  or  rags,  but  cellulose. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  various  chemicals  that 
are  added  at  different  stages  of  the  manufactur- 
ing process  to  give  desired  qualities  to  the  fin- 
ished paper  —  the  dyes,  the  sizing,  the  acids  and 
alkalis,  the  clay,  kaolin,  and  sulphate  of  lime. 
The  laboratory  knows  exactly  what  is  to  be  ex- 
pected of  a  given  alkali,  acid  dye,  or  filler,  before 
it  is  purchased. 

Every  step  of  the  paper-making  process  is 
similarly  controlled.  The  whole  art  of  paper- 
making  resolves  itself  into  two  main  processes. 
Of  these  the  one  is  a  reduction  of  the  cellulose 
to  a  pure  white  pulp,  and  the  second  the  con- 
version of  the  pulp  into  an  entirely  new  fabric 


IT  HAS   ALL  THE  QUALITY  OF 
SUNLIGHT 

7/  used  to  be  hard  for  a  paper  maker 
to  match  the  samples  for  color  after 
four  0  clock  in  the  afternoon.  Arti- 
ficial light  has  not  the  same  color 
values  as  sunlight.  A  glass  for  an 
electric  lamp  has  been  invented  which 
'makes  it  possible  to  match  at  night 
time.  It  is  used  in  the  laboratory  of 
the  American  Writing  T'aper  Com- 
pany. 


*3 


'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


WHERE  THE    LABORATORY  CONDUCTS 
PHYSICAL    TESTS    OF    PAPER 

If  you  want  to  find  out  in  a  crude  way  what  is 
the  strength  of  a  rubber  band,  you  stretch  it 
to  the  limit  with  your  two  hands.  Similarly  the 
tensile  strength  of  paper  is  determined,  but  by 
a  machine  {the  one  in  the  picture  which  re- 
sembles the  sector  of  a  circle).  The  laboratory 
operator  reads  off  on  the  scale  what  force  is  re- 
quired to  break  the  sample  in  the  machine,  just 
as  you  read  off  on  the  dial  of  a  platform  scale 
how  heavy  you  are.  There  are  other  machines 
on  the  table.  One  of  them  folds  a  paper  back 
and  forth  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  times 
until  it  breaks.  The  number  of  folds  is  of  course 
registered  automatically.  Then  there  is  a  gauge 
which  measures  thickness,  and  also  a  Mullen 
tester  which  measures  the  bursting  strength  of 
apiece  of  paper. 

You  know  that  moist  paper  is  not  nearly  so 
strong  as  dry  paper.  Since  moisture  tends  to 
weaken,  it  follows  that  physical  tests  of  paper 
must  be  conducted  in  a  room  the  atmosphere 
of  which  is  not  dry  today  and  moist  tomorrow. 
The  humidity  of  this  testing  room  is  controlled 
by  a  special  apparatus.  That  is  why  it  is  called 
"the  constant  humidity  room."  "Paper  sometimes 
shrinks  while  it  is  being  transported  great  dis- 
tances by  rail.  Isn't  it  evident  that  the  atmos- 
pheric conditions  under  which  it  is  made,  sold, 
and  used  should  be  standardized? 


—  a  sheet  of  paper  which  has  the  proper  surface, 
thickness,  weight,  tensile  strength,  resistance  to 
wear  and  tear,  color,  and  other  attributes. 

In  most  paper  mills  the  practical  men  in 
charge  of  operations,  men  who  have  learned 
how  to  make  paper  after  long  experience,  are 
left  largely  to  their  own  devices.  Chemicals  are 
used  with  little  real  knowledge  of  their  effect. 
Wastes  result  that  total  several  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  year  in  a  large  mill.  It  is  this  very  empir- 
ical, wasteful  method  of  manufacturing  that  has 
made  it  so  difficult  to  standardize  paper  prod- 


ucts. In  the  mills  of  the  American  Writing  Paper 
Company  it  has  given  place  to  scientific  control 
by  the  laboratory.  The  chemists  and  physicists 
of  the  laboratory  know  exactly  what  happens 
when  a  given  chemical  is  employed — they  know 
because  it  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  lab- 
oratory. They  give  precise  instructions;  they 
determine  all  the  conditions  that  shall  prevail; 
they  give  scientific  guidance. 

Thus  the  laboratory  at  Holyoke  has  discov- 
ered that  far  too  much  alum  is  used  in  most 
paper  mills.  No  scientific  standards  for  the  use  of 


x4 


Solving  the  Sizing  Problem 


alum  had  been  set  up;  merely  the  conventions 
and  traditions  of  paper  making  governed  the  use 
of  alum.  In  the  twenty-six  mills  of  the  American 
Writing  Paper  Company,  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  are  saved  every  year  in  alum  alone 
by  the  adoption  of  laboratory  methods. 

Water  is  a  controversial  question  among 
paper  makers.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  gallons 
are  utilized  in  a  day  by  a  single  large  paper  mill. 
Paper  makers  know  that  very  hard  water  intro- 
duces difficulties.  On  the  other  hand,  the  labo- 
ratory of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company 
has  shown  that  an  absolutely  soft  water  is  almost 
equally  undesirable.  A  hundred  conditions  must 
be  considered  in  the  making  of  paper.  The  pulp 
may  be  merely  pure  cellulose  or  slightly  con- 
taminated with  unremoved  impurities.  Some- 
times water  is  charged  with  bacteria,  which 
manifest  their  presence  by  the  gelatinous  gray 


slime  that  they  produce,  a  slime  which  collects 
dirt,  decomposes  the  fibers  caught  in  it,  leaves  a 
dirty  spot  in  the  web,  and  sometimes  breaks  off 
so  that  a  hole  is  produced  in  the  web.  The  water 
may  be  charged  with  iron  or  free  from  iron,  high 
or  low  in  lime  and  magnesia;  the  sizing  may 
vary  in  alkalinity  and  composition;  some  dye- 
stuffs  may  react  differently  from  others,  and 
some  may  be  readily  absorbed  while  others  are 
resistant.  These  are  scientific  questions  that  can 
be  accurately  answered  only  by  a  scientifically 
trained  staff. 

Take  the  matter  of  sizing,  for  example.  It 
typifies  the  work  which  the  laboratory  at  Holyoke 
is  doing.  A  paper  fit  to  be  written  upon  must  be 
sized  so  that  the  ink  will  not  "run."  Without 
sizing  it  would  act  like  so  much  blotting  paper. 
On  the  subject  of  sizing,  as  a  whole,  no  two 
paper  makers  agree  —  evidence  enough  that  the 


WHAT  THE  SCREEN  SHOWS 
Microphotographk  slides  of  fibrous 
materials,  finished  papers,  samples 
from  the  beater,  are  thrown  on  the 
screen  in  a  way  made  familiar  by 
the  stereopticon.  Magnified  several 
hundred  times  or  more  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  specimen  under  ex- 
amination become  apparent  as  well 
as  the  results  of  different  beating 
methods. 


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HOLYOKE 

the  TV^orW's  Paper  City 


'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


laboratory  must  step  in  and  substitute  scientific 
fact  for  opinion.  This  subject  of  sizing  has  en- 
gaged the  chemists  of  the  American  Writing 
Paper  Company  for  over  ten  years.  Soap  emul- 
sions of  rosin  are  widely  used  in  sizing  paper. 
The  best  effect  is  obtained  with  much  free  rosin; 
but  emulsions  are  not  easily  formed  when  the  free 
rosin  is  high.  Research  conducted  in  the  labo- 
ratory showed  that  most  patented  processes 
for  overcoming  the  difficulty  are  scientifically 
wrong,  and  that  emulsions  of  the  worst  type  are 
advocated.  Finally  a  process  of  making  a  clear 
rosin  size  was  developed  —  a  solution  that  will 
not  "settle  out"  and  which  has  greater  sizing 
power  than  the  ordinary  milky  emulsion.  All 
the  guessing  that  attended  the  making  and  using 
of  rosin  size  has  disappeared.  An  error  is  easily 
corrected   by  mere  inspection.  No  special  ma- 


chinery is  required.  In  rosin  alone  a  saving  of 
over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  has 
been  shown  to  be  possible.  What  the  value  of 
the  increase  in  the  quality  of  paper  may  be  cannot 
be  estimated. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  experienced 
mill  man  is  ignored  or  that  he  is  reduced  to  a 
mere  automaton  who  moves  in  a  certain  way 
when  the  director  of  the  laboratory  presses  a 
button.  The  accumulated  experience  of  decades 
is  not  to  be  thrown  on  the  scrap  heap.  No  sen- 
sible laboratory  director  ignores  the  advice  of  a 
practical  paper  maker,  and  the  director  of  the 
Holyoke  laboratory  is  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
He  is  guided  by  the  counsel  of  practical  men, 
especially  when  it  saves  him  much  experiment- 
ing. In  a  sense,  the  entire  manufacturing  or- 
ganization    of    the    American  Writing    Paper 


ESTIMATING  THE    FIBER   CONTENT 
OF    PAPER 

First  of  all  he  cooked  a  sample  of  the  paper 
in  a  little  caustic  soda  to  remove  sizing  or 
other  binding  material.  Then  he  washed 
the  sample  and  rolled  it  into  a  little  pill, 
placed  it  in  a  test  tube  with  water,  and 
shook  it  thoroughly  to  defiber  the  particles. 
He  picked  out  a  little  of  this  defiber ed  mass 
with  the  aid  of  a  needle,  dried  it  on  ab- 
sorbent praper,  and  placed  it  on  a  micro- 
scope slide  to  be  studied  as  you  now  see. 
Microscopic  tests  of  this  kind  are  conducted 
by  the  laboratory  in  order  to  match  paper 
for  customers,  as  well  as  to  standardize 
and  classify  papers. 


18 


zA  Laboratory  with  Ideals 


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DETERMINING  THE    FINISH 
OF  PAPER 

How  smooth  is  it?  What  is  the  finish? 
'The  printer  always  asks  these  questions 
about  a  paper.  'Printing  quality  depends 
in  large  part  on  the  smoothness  and  finish 
of  the  paper.  'But  how  can  you  predict 
what  the  performance  of  a  given  sheet 
of  paper  will  be  in  the  printing  shop 
without  actually  running  it  through  the 
press?  The  eye  and  the  sense  of  touch 
are  not  accurate,  scientific  gauges.  So,  in 
the  mills  of  the  American  Writing  Taper 
Company  this  scientific  instrument  is  used 
to  determine  exactly  the  proper  finish  for 
a  given  purpose.  Thus  it  becomes  pos- 
sible to  compare  the  paper  produced  in  a 
mill  with  the  standard  adopted. 


.I-,..-;;. (W/CW, 


Company's  twenty-six  mills  is  part  of  the  lab- 
oratory personnel.  The  truth-seeking  spirit  of 
science  pervades  everywhere. 

Although  the  research  laboratory  is  prima- 
rily intended  to  improve  the  American  Writing 
Paper  Company's  methods  and  products,  it  is 
more  than  a  commercial  institution.  The  great 
coal-tar  laboratories  in  Europe  conduct  research 
in  organic  chemistry  without  any  financial  goal 
in  view.  In  the  laboratories  of  a  great  American 
electric  manufacturing  company,  an  immense 
amount  of  purely  scientific  work  was  carried  on, 
which,  in  the  beginning,  shed  more  light  on  the 
constitution  of  matter  than  on  the  best  method 
of  making  an  incandescent  lamp.  The  greatest 


camera-making  company  has  a  laboratory  in 
which  probably  more  investigations  in  pure 
optics  are  made  than  in  any  university  in  the 
world.  So,  the  laboratory  of  the  American  Writ- 
ing Paper  Company  conducts  research  which  is 
directed  to  pure  theory.  A  study  of  the  paper  in- 
dustry's problems  alone  cannot  result  in  any 
startling  advance  in  paper-making  methods  — 
merely  in  greater  manufacturing  precision  and 
in  the  improvement  of  established  processes.  But 
once  the  fundamental  chemistry  and  physics  of 
cellulose  are  attacked,  regardless  of  immediate 
commercial  results,  discoveries  of  revolutionary 
importance  must  inevitably  be  made. 

This  has  been  the  history  of  most  industrial 

19 


T>iscovering  New  Facts  about  "Taper 


fanta  or/i  l^'^-y 


WHERE    PAPER    IS    STANDARDIZED 

Which  of  two  samples  of  paper  that  look     papers  sold  in  the  market  by  other  com-  the  facts  that  the  paper  user  has  a  ri± 

alike  and  feel  alike  is  the  better  for  a  given     panies,  are  tested  by  the  laboratory  and  clas-  to  know.  As  it  is  now,  the  consumer  has 

purpose?  To  answer  the  question, standards      sifted.  The  day  is  at  hand  when  paper  will  no  means  of  determining  why  two  papers 

must  be  set  up.  All  the  papers  of  the  Amer-      be  sold  on  the  strength  of  a  label  or  a  water-  of  apparently  the  same  quality  should  differ 

ican  Writing  'Paper  Company,  as  well  as      mark  which  will  express  scientifically  all  markedly  in  price.  No  one  tells  him. 


research.  A  study  of  the  residual  gases  in  the 
tungsten  lamp  gave  the  world  the  half-watt,  ni- 
trogen-filled lamp  —  an  end  undreamed  of  when 
the  investigation  began.  Years  spent  in  deter- 
mining what  is  the  chemical  constitution  of  rub- 
ber have  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a  process  for 
making  synthetic  rubber  (real  rubber)  in  the 
factory.  Fifty  years  of  purely  scientific  research 
20 


in  coal-tar  chemistry  have  enriched  the  world  with 
several  thousand  synthetic  dyes,  flavoring  mate- 
rials, perfumes,  and  medicines.  So,  the  labora- 
tory at  Holyoke  conducts  research  which  may 
have  no  immediate  commercial  value,  but  which 
is  bound  to  be  of  industrial  importance  sooner 
or  later.  Suppose  that  it  should  work  out  a  pre- 
cise chemical  formula  for  cellulose.  The  paper 


Where  'Paper-Making  begins 


SORTING  THE    RAGS 

Rags  are  of  two  general  classes — new  rags 
from  which  the  highest  quality  papers  of  great 
durability  and  permanency  are  made,  and  old 
or  used  rags  from  which  papers  of  lower 
quality  and  lesser  durability  and  permanency 
are  made.  New  rags  require,  little  sorting; 
they  are  the  bits  of  linen  and  cotton  cloth 
left  over  after  high-grade  textiles  have  been 
made.  Old  or  used  rags,  however,  as  they  are 
received  by  the  writing-paper  mill,  include  a 
motley,  heterogeneous  mass  of  cotton  and  linen 
rags,  old  shirts,  bits  of  underwear,  fragments 
of  all  conceivable  textiles,  except  wool  and  silk. 
All  of  these  materials  must  be  sorted. 


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'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


chemist  knows  only  in  a  general  way  the  chem-  This  is    called    the    "Bleach    Index   Method." 

ical   constitution   of  cellulose.    To  a   practical  The  solution  of  this  problem  has  progressed  to 

paper  maker  the  determination  of  the  chemical  such  a  point  that  it  is  now  ready  to  be  tried  out 

composition  of  the  material  out  of  which   he  on  a  large  commercial  scale,  laboratory  results 

makes  paper  is  one  of  those  theoretical  under-  having  proved  satisfactory. 

takings  that  seem  utterly  without  industrial  pur-  This  laboratory,  which  has  been  established  to 
pose.  And  yet  the  more  the  paper  maker  knows  introduce  precise  scientific  methods  in  the  mills 
about  cellulose,  the  more  will  he  know  about  of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company,  and 
paper  making.  Perhaps  cellulose  will  some  day  which  has  already  done  so  much  to  standardize 
be  synthetized;  in  other  words,  artificially  built  paper-making  methods  and  products,  occupies 
up  out  of  carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen  atoms,  an  entire  building  of  its  own  in  Holyoke.  It  is 
The  synthesis  will  probably  be  of  no  direct  equipped  not  merely  with  the  usual  apparatus  of 
commercial  benefit  because  vegetation  is  too  a  chemical  and  physical  testing  station,  but  with 
plentiful  and  cheap.  But  it  will  reveal  the  true  real  paper-making  machinery  of  its  own.  It  has 
chemical  formula,  and  with  that  to  guide  him,  the  all  the  facilities  for  making  paper  by  hand,  by 
paper  chemist  will  with  certainty  predict  results,  small  machines,  and  by  full-sized  commercial  ma- 
He  would  know  more  about  the  possibilities  of  chines  which  will  produce  a  continuous  web  of 
cellulose  reactions  — important  when  it  is  con-  paper  from  twenty  to  sixty  inches  wide.  Whether 
sidered  that  practically  every  known  reaction  of  or  not  a  new  paper-making  material  or  a  new 
cellulose  has  become  the  basis  of  a  valuable  in-  process  has  industrial  possibilities  can  hardly  be 
dustrial  process  and  because  the  paper  maker  economically  determined  in  the  mills.  On  the 
will  at  last  learn  what  really  occurs  when  cellu-  other  hand,  a  laboratory  success  proves  little.  A 
lose  fibers  are  dyed.  Science  is  a  key  that  un-  new  material  or  a  new  manufacturing  method 
locks  many  doors.  One  discovery  points  the  way  must  pass  through  four  stages  in  the  American 
to  another.  That  is  why  the  American  Writing  Writing  Paper  Company's  laboratory  before  it 
Paper  Company's  laboratory  studies  fundamen-  is  definitely  adopted  or  rejected.  The  first  stage 
tals  as  well  as  mere  paper-making  problems.  —  the  laboratory  stage  —  yields  the  discovery. 
The  paper-mill  superintendent  to-day  has  In  the  second  stage,  small  hand  sheets  are  made 
only  his  eye  to  guide  him  in  determining  the  with  small  apparatus.  If  the  results  are  satisfac- 
correct  amount  of  bleach  to  be  used  in  a  given  tory,  the  third  stage  is  entered,  which  means  that 
lot  of  rags  or  wood  pulp.  No  two  pairs  of  eyes  paper  is  made  by  machinery  which  is  an  accurate 
see  alike.  Even  the  same  pair  of  eyes  will  not  see  reproduction  of  that  to  be  found  in  the  mill, 
alike  twice  in  succession.  The  result  of  this  lack  Finally,  in  the  fourth  stage,  paper  is  made  on 
of  technical  control  is  over-bleached  pulp,  and  what  is  really  a  commercial  scale,  but  still  under 
paper  made  of  over-bleached  pulp  turns  yellow  laboratory  control.  The  obstacles  and  the  de- 
in  storage.  The  Department  of  Technical  Con-  fects  that  appear  at  each  stage  are  many.  Not  un- 
trol  has  worked  out  a  method  which  will  enable  til  this  fourth  stage  has  been  successfully  passed 
the  superintendent  to  determine  accurately  the  are  the  experimental  data  translated  into  mill 
correct  amount  of  bleach  to  use,  in  order  to  terms.  The  paper  thus  made  is  not  a  laboratory 
get  the  brightest  color  without  overbleaching.  curiosity.  It  can  be  sold  —  proof  of  the  commer- 

22 


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BEATING 

Cellulose  used  to  be  disintegrated  into  its  indi- 
vidual fibers  in  a  kind  of  mortar  with  the  aid 
of  a  tightly  fitting  pestle.  It  was  literally  beaten. 
Now  the  process  is  mechanically  carried  out  in 
the11  beating  engine"  or  "beater"  its  very  name 
indicating  its  relation  to  the  old  mortar.  The 
beating  engine  resembles  the  washer  in  construc- 
tion. An  oval  trough  is  partially  divided  by  a 
wall,  or  "  midfeather,"  to  form  two  channels. 
In  the  bottom  of  one  channel  is  a  bedplate  pro- 
vided with  steel  knives.,  and  above  the  bedplate 
is  a  heavy  roll  also  provided  with  steel  knives. 
The  action  of  the  co-acting  blades  of  the  roll  and 
bedplate  is  somewhat  like  that  of  a  pair  of 
scissors.  Thus  the  stock  is  shredded  or  teased 
into  its  individual  fibers.  ^During  the  process, 


THE   STOCK 

which  is  a  combination  of  beating  and  shearing, 
various  chemicals  are  added  which  are  to  give 
certain  desired  qualities  to  the  finished  paper. 
Is  the  paper  to  be  red,  yellow,  or  blue?  The 
proper  coloring  matter  is  added.  Is  it  to  be  non- 
absorbent  to  ink?  Some  form  of  animal  or  vege- 
table sizing  is  used.  Is  the  finished  paper  to 
be  soft-glazed?  Loading  material  {china  clay, 
kaolin,  sulphate  of  lime,  or  " blanc  fixe")  is 
called  for.  In  most  mills  the  beater  engineer  is 
left  to  his  own  devices  in  the  matter  of  match- 
ing a  given  sample  of  paper  for  finish,  formation, 
color,  strength,  and  wear.  Hut  in  the  American 
Writing  "Paper  Company's  mills  the  beater  man 
has  his  "furnish  "  scientifically  laid  out  for  him. 
The  task  is  standardized. 


23 


'Discovering  New  Facts  about  'Paper 


24 


Selling  'Paper  according  to  Scientific  Standards 


cial  magnitude  on  which  the  investigation  was  To  carry  out  this  policy  to  its  logical  conclu- 

conducted.  In  a  word,   the  laboratory  is  com-  sion,   the    American   Writing    Paper   Company 

pletely  equipped  with  beaters  and  all  the  ma-  throws  open  the  doors  of  its  laboratory  to  the 

chinery  necessary  for  the  continuous  production  entire  paper-making  industry.  Merchants,  per- 

of  paper  at  the  rate  of  five  hundred   pounds  plexed  as  they  are  by  the  claims  of  rival  salesmen 

an  hour.  Were  it  desirable  to  do  so, the  machin-  and  unable  to  conduct  tests  of  their  own  suffi- 

ery  could   be  operated  for  weeks,  producing  a  ciently  elaborate,  may  turn  to  the  laboratory  for 

finished  commercial  paper.  guidance  and  advice  with  the  assurance  that  they 

That  section  of  the  laboratory  in  which  the  will  learn  the  scientific  truth.  Paper  makers  may 

large  paper-making  machines  are  to  be  found  consult  the  chemists  and  physicists  of  the  labo- 

constitutes  also  a  school  for  the  selling  force  of  the  ratory  when  their  own  technical  resources  are 

American  Writing  Paper  Company.  How  many  inadequate.  Thus,  the  laboratory  was  recently 

paper  salesmen  have  any  real,  accurate  knowl-  called  upon  to  act  as  a  scientific  arbiter  in  a  dis- 

edge  of  paper  making — anything  but  a  smatter-  pute  between  a  competing  New  England  paper 

ing  of  paper  terminology?  Each  representative  mill  and  a  dealer  in  a  necessary  loading  material; 

of  the  American  Writing  Paper  Company  must  the  mill  claiming  that  the  material  supplied  by 

not  only  watch  the  making  of  paper  in  the  mills,  the  dealer  set  up  undesirable  acid  reactions,  the 

but  he  receives  instruction  in  the  laboratory  in  dealer  stoutly  maintaining  the  contrary.   And 

the  science  and  art  of  paper  making.  what  was  the  result?  The  company  that  makes 

The  salesman  who  has  a  working  knowledge  of  this  particular  loading  material   has  requested 

paper-making  methods  can  help  a  customer  to  se-  the  laboratory  to  draw  up  specifications  which  it 

lect  the  right  kind  of  paper  for  a  particular  pur-  will  follow  in  the  future  —  specifications  which 

pose.  What  is  more,  he  knows  what  not  to  promise,  promise  to  be  adopted  by  the  entire  paper  indus- 

"Can  you  give  me  a  piece  of  paper  like  this  at  try.  Lest  those  who  thus  consult  the  laboratory 

the  same  price?"  the  customer  invariably  asks.  fear  that  their  processes  are  not  sufficiently  safe- 

The  salesman  who  knows  how  paper  is  made  guarded,  specially  equipped  rooms  are  provided 

knows  that  no  two  trees  in  the  forest  grow  alike,  to  which  none  have  access  without  permission, 

knows  that  no  two  shipments  of  rags  are  alike,  and  which  are  locked. 

knows  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  start  with  To  abolish  senseless  and  wasteful  trade  prac- 

absolutely  equivalent  raw  materials.  But  he  can  tices  is  one  aim  of  the  research  laboratory  of  the 

say  this:  "Give  me  a  sample.  I  will  take  it  to  our  American    Writing   Paper   Company.    Writing 

laboratory  for  analysis.    Tell  me  what   tensile,  papers  have  long  been  sold  by  the  pound.  Often 

tearing,  or  folding  tests  the  paper   must  with-  special  weights   are   ordered   for  no   particular 

stand,  regardless  of  what  this  sample  may  reveal,  reason.  New  weights  and  sizes  are  added  to  al- 

Tell  me  how  heavy  your  paper  must  be.    Tell  ready  interminable  lists.  To  abolish  this  vicious 

me  exactly  what  you  expect  of  it."  system   or  lack   of  system,  the  Writing   Paper 

In  other  words,  a  salesman  of  the  American  Manufacturers  Association  has  adopted  the  prin- 

Writing  Paper  Company  sells  paper  according  ciple  of  selling  only  by  substance  numbers.  Of 

to  scientific  standards  that  meet  particular  uses,  the  many  weights  made,  certain  ones  alone  are 

and  not  merely  according  to  weight  and  price.  desirable,  and  only  these  weights  and  substances 

25 


^Discovering  New  Facts  about  l^aper 


■ 


^    .  •  I 


.   , 


-'    --■"' 


,      \f  i&\ 


Y 


"--i&Zs&n  IbfPhL 


THE   SHEET  CALENDER 


Here,  the  rough-dried  paper  from  the  lofts  is  receiving  afinish. 
The  whole  question  of  producing  satisfactory  finishes  is  depend- 
ent upon  drying  the  paper  under  controlled  humidity.  This  prob- 
lem is  being  studied  for  the  purpose  of  producing  papers  of  the 
highest  quality. 


26 


Science  Supersedes  Guessing 


LOFT-DRIED   PAPER 

'the  finest  grades  of  writing  paper  are  "loft  dried."   After  having  been  wound  up 

on  the  Fourdrinier  machine,  the  paper  is  cut  into  sheets   of  the  proper  size  and 

stored  in  lofts.    In  a  sense,  the  paper  is  allowed  to  season. 

are  now  manufactured  by  the  American  Writing  necessary  and  to  classify  the  necessary  is  not  the 

Paper  Company.  Thus  a  beginning  has  been  least  important  task  of  the  laboratory.  When 

made  in  the  standardization  of  papers,  accord-  that  task  is  accomplished,  with  the  aid  of  the 

ing  to  definite  weights.  The  paper  machine  runs  entire  writing-paper  industry,  both  the  jobber 

at  full  capacity,  with  none  of  the  loss  of  time  and    the    consumer    will    benefit.     No    longer 

incurred  when  adjustments  are  rendered  neces-  will  the  jobber  be  asked  to  carry  in  his  stock- 

sary  by  odd  weights.  But  much  more  remains  to  room  varieties  of  paper  which  respond  to  mere 

be  done.  Thousands  of  unnecessary  papers  are  whims.  His  huge  investment  in  mere  paper  may 

still   made  —  not   only   papers   for  writing,  but  be  liquidated;    his  money  is  released  so  that  it 

papers  for  every  purpose.  To  eliminate  the  un-  may  be  applied  in  expanding  his  business. 

27 


Discovering  New  Facts  about  T^aper 


From  all  this  it  follows  that  industrial  re- 
search of  the  kind  that  is  conducted  at  Holyoke, 
Massachusetts,  serves  three  purposes: 

i.  It  sets  up  standards  for  the  purchase  of  ma- 
terial, the  control  of  manufacturing  processes, 
the  maintenance  of  quality  in  the  finished  prod- 
uct, and  the  scientific  classification  of  products. 

2.  It  discovers  and  develops  the  possibilities  of 
new  materials,  new  processes,  and  new  products. 

3.  It  carries  on  investigations  in  pure  science 
which  may  have  no  immediate  commercial  pur- 
pose, but  which  must  ultimately  benefit  the 
industry. 

It  must  be  evident  that,  after  the  research 
laboratory  has  instructed  the  mill  how  to  pro- 
ceed, the  resultant  paper  product  must  be  differ- 
ent from  the  product  of  the  mill  that  buys  its  raw 


materials  haphazard  and  exercises  no  strict  con- 
trol over  the  manufacturing  steps.  There  is  no 
room  for  arguing  when  such  a  product  is  offered 
for  sale.  Its  quality,  its  properties,  its  character- 
istics, have  been  scientifically  determined.  Like 
the  electric  incandescent  lamp,  it  bears  a  label 
which  is  at  once  a  scientific  description  and  a 
guarantee  that  paper  made  under  the  control  of 
the  research  laboratory  is  a  scientific,  a  standard- 
ized product.  The  manufacturer  of  that  piece  of 
paper  knows  everything  there  is  to  be  known 
about  it.  Sheer  speculation  gives  place  in  his  case 
to  certainty. 

Consequently,  research  must  result  in  pro- 
moting fair  dealing  in  the  paper  trade.  It  is  an 
old  maxim  that  the  buyer  of  goods  must  be  on 
his  guard.     Caveat  emptor  —  let  the  buyer  be- 


THE    EXHIBIT    ROOM 
thousands  of  papers  are  made 
by  the  American  Writing  Ta- 
per Company.  Specimens  of  all 
are  to  be  found  in  this  room. 


28 


The  Square  T)eal  Means  Industrial  Research 


ware!    Most  trade  trickery  escapes  unpunished  — more  than  the  buyer.   He  dares  to  assume  ob- 

because  the  maxim  is  an  accepted  principle  of  ligations.  Because  he  has  all  the  technical  facts 

the  common  law.  The  burden  of  informing  him-  he  knows  exactly  what  he  can  promise.  Are  not 

self  is  thrown  on  the  buyer,  and  yet  the  buyer  is  his  products  made  from  tested  raw  materials,  by 

helpless  because  only  the  seller  is  in  possession  a  scientifically  controlled  process?  Are  they  not 

of  all  the  technical  facts.  scientifically  measured  for  quality  before  they 

The  establishment   of  a  research  laboratory  are  sold  ? 

implies  at  least  a  moral  abandonment  of  the  old  Permanent  success  must  rest  on  the  "square 

caveat  emptor  principle.  Research  means  that  the  deal."  And  the  very  essence  of  the  "square  deal" 

manufacturer,  the  seller,  must  be  on  his  guard  is  industrial  research. 


I 


Erratum 

N  place  of  the  legend  accompanying  the  illustra- 
tion on  page  27,  please  read: 

LOFT-DRIED    PAPER 

The  finest  grades  of  paper  are  "loft-dried."  On  the  Fourdrinier 
Machine  the  paper  is  passed  through  a  size  tub  and  cut  into 
sheets  of  the  proper  size.  The  sheets  are  afterwards  hung  in 
lofts  and  allowed  to  dry  slowly  and  season. 


..■■■.  m  ■ ■ 


— , 


TON  COLLEGE 

mi  in 


3  9031    01773177  9 


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